 11-17-2007, 8:07 AM
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LovingNeighbor
 
Joined on 02-10-2006
Washington
Posts 397
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Hidden in the Field - The Value of the Spiritual Man
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Hidden in the Field
For Parasha Toldot
By Lovingneighbor 11-10-2007
This weeks Parasha is in the book of Genesis also called B'reisheet, and is called Toldot which means 'Generations'. In this weeks parasha:
- Yitzchak prays because Rivka is barren and she conceives twins
- One baby was hairy and his name was Esav and the other grabbed his heel and his name was Ya'akov
- Esav became a hunter and Ya'akov dwelled in tents
- Esav sold his birthright to Ya'akov for a bowl of food when he was really hungry
- YHWH appeared to Yitzchak and told him not to go to Egypt because of the famine but that He would bless him
- Yitzchak dwelt in Gerar and told the men of that place Rivka was his sister
- Avimelech saw them playing together and knew she was his wife
- Avimelech asks Yitzchak why he said she was his sister
- Avimelech tells all the men not to touch them or they will be killed
- Yitzchak became great and Avimelech asked them to leave
- Yitzchak dug again the wells of his father that the Pelishtim had filled with dirt
- The Herdsman of Gerar fought with Yitzchak over the wells he dug and Yitzchak kept digging wells until they stopped fighting with him
- YHWH appeared to Yitzchak in Be'er-Sheva and said He will bless him for Avraham's sake
- Avimelech, Achuzzat, and Pichol went to Yitzchak and asked him to make a covenant with him that he wouldn't harm them
- They made a feast and a covenant then they left and Yitzchak dug a well and called it Sheva
- When Yitzchak was old and almost blind he told Yishma'el to go and hunt venison for him so he could eat and bless him
- Rivka heard it and told Ya'akov to get 2 goats and she would make meat so Yitzchak could bless Ya'akov
- Ya'akov said my brother is hairy and when my father feels me he will know I am a deciever
- Rivka put Esavs clothes on Ya'akov and goat's skins on his hands and his neck
- Ya'akov went to his father and Yitzchak asked how he found the meat so fast
- Yitzchak asked him to come near so he could feel him to see if he was hairy
- Yitzchak asked again if he was Esav and Ya'akov said yes
- Yitzchak asked for a kiss so he could smell his clothes to see if it was Esav
- So Yitzchak blessed Ya'akov with Esav's blessing
- Esav brought meat to Yitzchak but he said another already came and he ate and blessed him
- Esav cried out because Ya'akov took his birthright and now his blessing also
- Yitzchak told Esav he made Ya'akov lord over his brethren and they would be his servants
- Esav begged for some kind of a blessing and Yitzchak blessed him
- Esav was going to kill Ya'akov after their father's death and mourning so Rivka planned on sending Ya'akov away
- Yitzchak tells Ya'akov not to take a wife from the daughters of Chet but to go to Padan'aram and take a wife
- Yitzchak leaves to Padan'aram and Esav takes a wife of Yishma'el's daughters
- Haftarah YHWH compares the two sons Yisra'el and Esav and how he loves Yisra'el and Esav has not pleased him
In this weeks portion we see alot of things that on the surface seem to be wrong and yet they end up being good. Two great examples of this are Yitzchak taking after his father by saying his wife is his sister, and Ya'akov pretending to be is brother. In bth situations the end result was a blessing. Now on the surface these things seem like deception. But as the scriptures also say
Pro 25:2 It is the glory of Elohim to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.
So hidden things are not always bad and all hidden things are not deception. What we see is that in the world things are hidden from us in many cases for our own good. Avraham and Yitzchak were afraid they would be harmed by the people of the land if they really knew them. Moshe was also concealed and when revealed the people would have killed him but YHWH would not allow it. Yahushua was concealed to many and once they figured out he was the Mashiach many of the people wanted to kill him. The concept of being hidden in the field makes me think of the verse.
Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto Elohim who gave it.
In the scripture we see that we are made from the earth and to it we shall return but there are two parts. He formed man fromt he earth and then breathed life into him. As the verse above states when we die the opposite happens. So one could say that Elohim hid His spirit in the earth or field. I beleive it is our job to then seek after it. I believe it will be revealed in due season but not too soon or else the evil ones would come after it to destroy it. This goes to the parable of the wheat and the tares. We see that they are to remain hidden together in the field because his servants don't know which are which. This also applies to scattered Yisra'el being hidden in the field or world. This is not just a punishment but also a protection in my opinion. With the advent of DNA and retina scanning and all the ID's it seems that there is an underlying pattern of the world wanting to know who is who.
There are even many who are running around getting DNA tests to know if they are Jewish. We can see what has happened to the Jews who are not hidden and people foolishly put their blood out to be put in a database somewhere. I think Avraham and Yitzchak feared something similar. As long as Yisra'el is hidden they are tolerated. But once they identify themselves as one who serves Elohim the battle begins just as it did with Pharaoh. Just like a pearl hidden int he unclean oyster, given time until it is plucked out, so is Elohim's people in my opinion. Just like circumcision where the man's private part is revealed after a particular time. I think these all are patterns telling us of a coming revelation. The outside will be taken away and reveal the inside. Who are the son's of man, and who are the son's of Elohim. We even see this pattern with Mashiach and Ya'akov who was the younger but then was clothed like his brother and tested by his father and then received the blessing. Mashiach also was clothed in the flesh and tested, observed by Hs Father and all things being the same had both the outward works of the brother but better yet was better on the inside also. Funny the description of Esav and Ya'akov in verse:
Gen 25:27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
It says Esav was a cunning hunter and Ya'akov as the text was a plain man, dwelling in tents. This is a poor translation. The word for plain is tawm and means perfect or complete. It is the same word used to describe Job or Iyov. So we see one is a hunter and the other was perfect or it also means pious, dwelling inside. One is an outside man, one is an inside man. One is fleshly as in his name which described him as hairy and red the word Esav means rough. So rough and red is just like a description of the earth. So we see this picture of an earthly man and an spiritual man. The birthright and blessing go to the spiritual man who for a time is dressed up and becomes rough like his brother.
Pro 29:10 The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.
This is an interesting verse because the bloodthirsty reminds me of the cunning hunter and the word here for upright is one of th few other uses of the word used to describe Ya'akov. It is the word tawm translated most as perfect or complete. The first word is eesh, then dawm literally man of blood, here they translate as bloodthirsty. Compare to Esav being called edom meaning red and but edom is spelled aleph dalet mem and blood dawm is spelled dalet mem. Aleph also means strength or leader, so one could see the connection of Edom or Esav as the leader of blood or earthly men. As the scripture states in my opinion over and over again this is a model of the earthly vs. the spiritual as Paul many times eludes to.
Let's relook at the above verse now with one additional understanding. When we saw Elohim making man there is one more piece of the puzzle we need.
Gen 2:7 And YHWH Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
It looks like the first level is the flesh, then the spirit and once they are combined the person is a living soul as it says. So lets see if all three of these things can be applied to the verse in Proverbs
Pro 29:10 The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.
It could be understood that the fleshly men hate the spiritual but the just or straight will seek his soul. This oposition of the two is seen in the New testament
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
We even see this battle with Elohim in the Beginning
Gen 6:3 And YHWH said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Now I believe there is a double meaning for the last part of the verse in proverbs if not triple. The first is the Just will seek the spiritual which in my opinion represents Yahushua who in Revelations is called the true witness. This can be understood as the second witness that according to Torah establishes the truth. So it could mean that the just will seek the spirit of Torah and also implies they will not stop with just one witness but will seek after the second. The just being justified. As it says not the hearers of the law (first witness) but the doers of the law shall be justified (the second witness, those who live in it, life being the description of the spirit). The Spirit of Torah is Mashiach and is also what I believe Paul was talking about when comparing the earthly and spiritual law. The funny thing is even in what he is saying it is plain to see their are two torahs or better yet two witnesses of one torah. The second meaning is that the man of blood or earthly man will hate the spiritual , but the just man will seek his soul meaning the combining of the two. In this picture we see why Ya'akov put on the clothing of his brother. He became fleshly but was righteous in the flesh because he was spiritual inside. See the man in Genesis was not just called a soul but a living soul, which by reflexive thought means one may have a soul and it not be a living soul.
Here it is not one or the other, but a progression, the flesh profits nothing by itself without the spirit. But to have a living soul you need both. It starts with the flesh as paul said the letter of the law brings us to Mashiach the spirit of the law. Then in my opinion we are circumcised and the flesh is removed to reveal the spirit within.
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
We can see how Ya'akov models Yahushua think of this next verse in accordance to Ya'akov
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Mashiach Yahushua has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Elohim sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Here we see the reason Mashiach had to be clothed is the flesh ie Ya'akov clothed as his brother who represented the flesh, not to walk like him but to walk after the spiritual man that Ya'akov represents. Thus he recieves the blessing. It just comes down to whether you will walk after the ways of the world or the ways of Elohim. Will you as a just man seek after your soul and be established in the law by keeping the letter and spirit. Will you dwell within th spirit of torah and be perfect or just be a hearer of the word and not a doer. This verse in Galatians sums it up. The blessing comes not from the literal word of Elohim that is earthly, but the word planted in your spirit.
Gal 6:8 For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
So where is the blessing? It's hidden in the field. Withing the flesh is the spirit within the Tora is the spirit, and in it is life and we must purchase and own our own flesh, We must control and be owner of our own flesh to own the treasure within the field. Shalom!
Mat 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man has found, he hides, and for joy thereof goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.
A disciple should diligently search for the truth and humbly deny and reconsider it's possession.
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